How to keep electric car charging costs down: Key useful tips
Electric cars usually offer a significantly lower cost per kilometre than their petrol or diesel counterparts, especially if the owner charges the vehicle at home. However, with the rising costs of raw materials, electricity costs are also shooting up. In such a situation, even charging the electric car at home can add significantly to your home electricity bill every month. The lack of availability for public EV charging stations and the creepily high cost of fast charging at public electric vehicle charging stations add woe to worry for the e-car owners.
No matter where you are plugging in the electric car to juice up its battery pack, here are some useful tips that will help you to keep the overall charging costs in check.
Also Read : Follow these steps to extend battery life of an electric vehicle
Avoid complete battery drain
The first and last parts of the EV batteries take the most energy to recharge. Hence, try to avoid running your battery down completely. Ensure the battery’s charge level remains slightly above 20 per cent when you juice it up again. Also, try to set the charging stop at 80 per cent unless you really require that extra few kilometres of range for a long journey. This would save some costly energy, resulting in saving a large sum of money in EV battery charging costs over a long period. Also this is great for the battery’s health as well, as complete draining and charging to the fullest actually put pressure on the EV battery.
Drive in recuperation mode
Make the best use of the recuperation technology your electric car has. This is certainly one of the best things the electric vehicles come with. Recuperation or regenerative braking means whenever you are applying the brake, a certain amount of energy is generated to stop the wheels, which you are sending back to the vehicle’s battery pack. This happens whenever you apply brakes, be it for slowing down in dense traffic or when you are heading downhill. With this, the charge level of the battery pack remains a little longer and saves you some extra time before you plug in for recharging.
Consider moving to solar energy
India is a country that receives plenty of sunlight throughout the year. This makes a case for solar energy generation. With the easy availability of affordable solar energy generation equipment in the market, think about moving to this greener energy source for your electric car. Setting up a rooftop solar panel can get you the greenest and cheapest energy, which you can use to charge your electric car. Installing a small home-level solar panel doesn’t generally require you to seek planning permission from your local authority. This would help you with lower EV charging costs than drawing energy from the power grid.
Avoid charging in sunlight
Electric vehicles come with lithium-ion batteries, which don’t go well with higher temperatures, as that results in overheating and impacts the battery’s health. Hence, avoid charging the car in direct sunlight. Try to park it in a shade or garage when it is charging.
Drive easy and smooth
Overspeeding is a thrilling sensation for many drivers, no matter what the vehicle is. But, just like petrol or diesel vehicles, electric cars also munch some extra energy when you hit the accelerator hard. Hence, always try to drive easily and smoothly unless you are being chased by a mad truck driver. You won’t believe the difference that dropping a bit of speed makes to your kilometres per kWh.
Maintain your EV
Your vehicle demands your attention. If you take good care of your vehicle, it will return as much effort as well. This is true not just for petrol or diesel vehicles, but electric ones as well. Ensure the basic maintenances are done properly. These include keeping the vehicle clean to get optimum aerodynamic efficiency and maintaining tyre pressure to the OEM-prescribed level. These practices will ensure you get the best range out of the EV, which will eventually result in less recharging and save electricity costs.
How to keep electric car charging costs down
Avoid complete battery drain
Drive in recuperation mode
Consider moving to solar energy
Avoid charging in sunlight
Drive easy and smooth
Maintain your EV
First Published Date: 27 Dec 2022, 15:28 PM IST